The real writer is one
who really writes. Talent
is an invention like phlogiston
after the fact of fire.
Work is its own cure. You have to
like it better than being loved.
-- Marge Piercy, For the young who want to in The Moon Is Always Female.

Take an ax to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
-- Rumi, Quietness

Few are aware that just as the intense rocketing of Israel’s metropolitan areas was ramped up, the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Gaza Strip was reopened early last week. Trucks laden with foodstuffs and supplies were allowed through to those who were lobbing missiles at Israeli civilians.

Undoubtedly, these consignments didn’t only serve noncombatants but were seized by the combatants and allocated as they saw fit.

Now that a cease-fire is in place, this travesty surely should prompt a comprehensive collective rethink among Israelis.

Nowhere else in the history of armed conflict was there ever a situation in which a combatant side looked after its mortal enemy’s welfare, fed it, supplied it with essentials and powered it with electricity.

So, because we provide the essentials and electricity the prisoners (or slaves or anyone not free to pursue life, liberty and their happiness) should show a little gratitude and stop trying to obtain their freedom by any means necessary?